Add a Book 2015 Update...

Just over 250 new books have been added to our library! Thank you for supporting our students!

Now our kids can:

Press Here
and
discover
Pluto's Secret.
And
At the Same Moment Around the World
and
travel down
A Chipmunk's Hole.
Then they can look for
The Loch Mess Monster
in
The Magic Trap.
But
Shh! We Have a Plan!
Under the Egg
The Pigeon Needs a Bath...
Oh NO!
This Book Just Ate My Dog!
:-)

Talent Show 2015

There's No Place Like Edgewood!

We had a fabulous Talent Show this year, full of singing and dancing and cheering and skits. The only downside of our talented stage directors' excellent arrangement of acts: not enough time for jokes! And this year, you Edgewood kids gave me some great jokes! So here are the best that did not (and some that did) make it into our wonder-filled evening:

(I know, I got a whole lot more, but there's only so much room on the Internet for a blog post!)

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Justin.

Justin who?

Justin time for the Talent Show!

-Caleb, 4th grade

Why did the skeleton only play the piano?

Because he had no organs.

-Susan, 1st grade

How do monkeys get down the stairs?

They slide down the banana-ster.

-David, 4th grade

What did one toilet say to the other toilet?

You look a bit flushed.

-Flora, 4th grade

What does a clock do when it is hungry?

It goes back for seconds.

-Sadie, 4th grade

What do you get when a chicken lays an egg on top of a barn?

An eggroll!

-Ella, 5th grade

Why did the woman go outside with her purse open?

She expected some change in the weather.

-Kate, 5th grade

What's worse than raining cats and dogs?

Hailing taxi cabs.

-Arianna 5th grade

What do you put on when it's wet?

A coat of paint!

-Kyla, 4th grade

There's a horse on a 20 foot chain and it wants an apple that is 26 feet away. How can the horse get to the apple?

It can walk. I didn't say the chain was attached to anything else.

-Lolo, 5th grade

What do you get when you cross a pig and a centipede?

Bacon and legs

-William, 5th grade

What has one head, one foot, and four legs?

A bed.

-Emma, 4th grade

What has 18 legs and catches flies?

A baseball team.

-Jonathan, 3rd grade and Jacob, kindergarten

What has 0 feet, 3 tails, and lives in a bowl?

Three fish.

-Garrett, 3rd grade

Why did the man keep doing the backstroke?

Because he just ate and didn't want to swim on a full stomach.

-Harrison, 4th grade

Why did the chicken cross the basketball court?

The referee called a foul.

-Jonathan, 3rd grade and Jacob, kindergarten

Why did the dinosaur cross the road?

There weren't any chickens back then.

-Carson, 3rd grade

Why did Jamie go the dance with a prune?

He couldn't find a date.

-Lily, 5th grade

What do you call a girl flea?

A fleamale.

-Riley kindergarten

What did Jack's beanstalk grow?

Climb-a-beans.

-Anne Marshall, 4th grade

What do you call four bullfighters in quicksand?

Quatro sinko.

-Hugo, 5th grade

Why do waiters like gorillas better than they like flies?

Have you ever heard a customer complain about a gorilla in their soup?

-Isabel 5th grade

Why can't you iron a four-leaf clover?

Because you shouldn't press your luck.

-Haley, 5th grade

What geometric figure is like a lost parrot?

A polygon

-Madelyn, 5th grade

When is a dog NOT a hot dog?

When it's pure bred.

-John, 5th grade

Did you hear the joke about the giraffe?

It's probably over your head.

-Merritt 3rd grade

What is the best thing to put in a chocolate cake?

Your teeth.

-Lily, 1st grade

What do you call a red monster sitting on a rock?

A red monster sitting on a rock.

-Lorelai, 4th grade

What do you call a red monster sitting on a rock?

Bob.

-Zoe, 4th grade

What do you call a red monster sitting in a chair?

Zoe just told you, his name is Bob.

-Zoe, 4th grade

What do you do when you want a vegetable?

You call a flower.

-Max, 3rd grade

What did the pennies say to their teacher?

That makes perfect cents.

-Greta, 2nd grade

What did the volcano say to the other volcano?

I lava you.

-Mae Beth, 3rd grade

What does a snowman eat for breakfast?

Frosted flakes.

-Claire, 3rd grade

What did one snowman say to the other snowman?

Smells like carrots.

-Mrs. Burgess, LEAD

Why don't grizzlies wear shoes?

Because they like their bare feet.

or

Because they like their feet bare.

-Jack, 3rd grade

What are soft, white visitors from Mars?

Martian-mallows.

-Alina, 3rd grade

How does a cat go down the motor speedway?

Meeeeeeeeee-oooow.

-Paige, 5th grade

What did the artist draw right before she went to bed?

The curtains.

Mrs. Castle, ART

Why do dragons sleep during the day?

So they can fight knights.

-Cathryn, 4th grade

Did you hear Yousef's joke about the broken egg?

Yes? It cracked me up, too!

-Yousef, 5th grade

Why aren't dogs good dancers?

Because they have two left feet.

-Gabby, 5th grade

What do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft?

"A" flat minor.

-Mr. McKibben, Mrs. McKibben's husband

Why did Mozart get rid of his chickens?

They kept saying Bach, Bach, Bach.

-Chloe, 4th grade

What is Beethoven's favorite fruit?

Ba-na-na-na-nahs.

-Ahmed Makik, 4th grade

And my two favorite jokes of the evening:

This from my husband, Mr. Woodruff:

What do vegetarian zombies say?

GGGGGGrrrrrrraaaaiiinnnsss

And this from 5th grader Will...a true genius as this is a totally original joke:

What did the ghost teacher say to her class?

Watch the board and I'll go through it again.

We've got talent all over Edgewood!!!

Add a Book 2015

Hey Mrs. Woodruff, do we have any new books?

Almost!

During the week of February 23, we will hold our Annual Add a Book Celebration. This is wonder-filled opportunity for our students and teachers and families to select books to donate to our library. We have around 300 new books ready for donation...we just need your help. ¿How?
Student brings the signed permission slip.
Classes visit the library on either February 23, 24, or 25.
Student chooses the perfect book to donate and notifies parent of the cost.
Student returns the money to the library.
The book is processed including a bookplate with the student's name as donor.
The donating student gets to be the first to checkout the new library book!! Whoop! Whoop!

Click here for a permission slip.

Or click here.

Just a few of the 300 books...

Author Day!

We are so excited to be hosting 

Heather Montgomery 

for our 2015 Author Day!

An Alabama author, Heather Montgomery loves to ASK questions about the world around us. 

Her science books answer many questions, 

but they also encourage readers to be curious 

and to find out more.

We will spend the day with her on Friday, March 6,

with grades getting special presentations.

As with all of our visiting authors, students can order autographed copies of some books.
Please use the form sent home or the google doc provided here or this Spanish google doc here; send the completed form and payment to the library by Friday, February 13.

It's a New Year...a new chapter!

¿But what were the good books from 2014?

There are many Best of 2014 Lists out there, but this is one of the most comprehensive:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/bankstreet_web/media/filer_public/filer_public/2014/09/19/2014best-books.pdf

Scroll through (while you are relaxed and have time to see all 69 pages of this PDF) to locate your reader’s age range; books are then sorted by fiction and non-fiction and all the subjects in-between. This list is created by The Children’s Book Committee at the Bank Street College of Education in NYC. They are very picky about which books make their list, but parents are still the best judges for which books are best for their own kids.

My personal favorite of 2014 is: The Book With No Pictures by B. J. Novak.

Some books are meant to be studied for their illustrations; some are meant to be read quietly on a rainy afternoon; and this book is meant to be read to children by parents! Remember how I said the joy of bedtime stories is sharing that special time with your kid? Well, this book will have everybody giggling…again and again and again.

¿But what if you are more interested in “technical” stuff?

Checkout the resources noted here on the Homewood City Schools District Site:

http://www.homewood.k12.al.us/?DivisionID=16825&DepartmentID=21127&ToggleSideNav=ShowAll

Common Sense Media offers many suggestions for apps, movies, books, all sorts of entertainment. 

The HCS Librarians are teaming up to provide you with more information on technical ways you can entertain and inform your family. You can even follow us on twitter! @HWDLibrarians

Checking Your Edgewood Library Record...

Ever have a family panic attack
 because you THINK you've lost a library book?
is it overdue? 

did you already return it?
AHHHHHHH!!!!!

Never fear this...as YOU have the power to answer these questions from home or on the go!
From the Library portion of the Edgewood School webpage,
you can access Destiny our Library Catalog.
From there, your kids can login using their HCS username and password.
The books they currently have checked out will be shown in the MY INFO tab.
Whew!!

Managing Your Tattoo

Homewood City Schools has declared October to be Digital Citizenship Awareness Month!

A large part of elementary school education is teaching and learning manners. (Think about the book All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.) This month we are emphasizing that manners extend beyond our personal space to all of cyberspace!

Following a common theme presented throughout all of HCS, Edgewood is highlighting good Digital Citizen behavior through morning announcements and classroom and Specials instruction.

But what is this "Managing Your Tattoo"?
You may have heard the buzz term 'Digital Footprint.' But we have come to realize that 'footprints' conjures the image of beach-walking with waves easily and routinely washing away those footprints. What we do online and all of the digital data that is recorded about each of us does NOT easily and routinely go away. There is no 'away' in cyberspace. What we do online is just as permanent as a body tattoo--which can be thoughtful and beautiful OR a big mistake. Body tattoos can be removed or edited but it is an expensive and painful process. We want our students aware that their digital tattoo is just as permanent and revealing about themselves. Now is the time for students to monitor and plan. What they post and text and comment and share will someday be seen by college admissions offices and potential employers and others.

How can you help?
Be aware of what you post and text and comment and share about your children. Those of us born in the 20th Century do not have (many) digital skeletons in the closet, but your children's Digital Dossier might have begun before they were born when you shared their ultrasound photo.
When I first started working at HCS long ago, then Superintendent Dr. Jody Newton* warned us about a new thing called email saying that we should not write something in an email that we wouldn't want everyone to see on a billboard. We are continuing this type of thoughtfulness by advising our students to think: Not only should their online activity be appropriate and worthy of their grandmother's eyes, it should be such for their great-grandchildren to see...because that is who will STILL be ABLE to see it. Our computer screens may be small but the Internet is gigantic and forever.

(*Notice: This post has now become part of Dr. Newton's digital tattoo...and she doesn't even know I'm writing about her!)